


I’m An Open Book

by LIngall



Series: We Can Take it One Step at a Time (I’d like that very much) [6]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Olicity Hiatus Fic-A-Thon, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale, olicity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 03:48:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11371965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LIngall/pseuds/LIngall
Summary: Written for the Olicity Hiatus Fic-A-Thon prompt "Unintended Discovery."Felicity hates mysteries. Can she let just this one go unsolved for a while for the good of her relationship with Oliver?





	I’m An Open Book

<============>

Felicity sat on the couch with her feet up on the table, with her head leaning back on the cushions. She heard voices in the hallway, which she knew to be Oliver and William returning from their outing to the batting cage.

“When can we go again Oliver?” asked William as the entered the loft.

"Soon. Don’t you want to rest that arm slugger?”

“I’m not tired at all. Can we go again tomorrow? I can see if Mom will let me stay another night.”

“We’ll see, why don’t you go get changed and come back down for some dinner.”

William took off up the stairs and Oliver moved over to join Felicity on the couch.

“Tough day? I thought this was your office space hunting day. Didn’t you have a number of places on your finalist list?”

“It was, I did, Felicity Smoak you have failed this search,” Felicity added in her best Green Arrow voice. She closed her eyes as Oliver began to rub small circles into her shoulders.

“Based on the amount of tension in your shoulders should I assume that you didn’t find anything suitable?”

Felicity let out a deep sigh, “No, I mean yes, it was a bust. My feet can attest that I have quite possibly seen every available office space for lease in Star City.”

“How about some food and a nice glass of wine to ease your suffering.”

“My hero.”

 <============>

Felicity and William cleared the dishes from the table.

“Thanks honey, that was perfect,” as she leaned in to give Oliver a kiss.

“Ewww, gross you guys,” said Williams as he grimaced.

Ruffling his son’s hair, “You’ll appreciate that before you know it son. What time was your Mom coming to pick you up again?”

“10 am. I was about to go up to my room and FaceTime with her, unless you need some more help.” 

“William, we’re all set, but thank you for offering,” added Felicity as she leaned over to give him a hug. “I hope hugs are still allowed.”

“Yeah. They’re okay, but only when we're here in the apartment though, remember.”

“I'll remember. We’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight William.”

“Goodnight Felicity. Goodnight Oli..Dad.”

Felicity turned to see the sweetest smile on Oliver’s face. _“What a marshmallow.”_

“So, can I interest you in another glass of wine while we strategize about your office space crisis?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Oliver poured two glasses of wine and joined Felicity over on the couch.  

“Now that you’re more relaxed, what’s the story? I thought you had lined up quite a few places that fit your requirements. Remember the offer to use the spare bedroom still stands. I really wouldn’t mind. ”

Felicity smiled and walked her fingers up his arm, “Yes, but you remember I need a bit more space and as much as you like Curtis, I’m sure you don’t want him spending more time over here than he already does, right.”

“Right. You’re right as always.” Oliver looked away, and then answered, “I have another idea.”

“Good, because I am fresh out of them. Do I have enough money to build my own building?”

“The bunker.”

“I can’t expand my business in the bunker Oliver.”

“Well not in the bunker, but ABOVE the bunker.”

Realization crossed over Felicity’s face and nodded. “The old campaign office. That would be perfect. Why didn’t I think of that? Close to work, well my night job, close to home, great location, lots of natural light…”

“Let’s go and take a look at it next weekend, just to make sure if will meet your needs Ms. CEO.” 

“I’m sure it will, where do I sign Mr Queen? Or maybe I should ask the cost per square foot.”

“Oh, the price is quite steep, but I know the owner and he’s very willing to negotiate,” Oliver smirked.

“I love to negotiate,” she added leaning over to give Oliver another kiss.

<============>

Another weekend had come and gone. Felicity hard at work back at the new offices of _Smoak Technologies_ to pack up the last of the items that were going to storage. 

Oliver had assured here that anything that was left behind could go directly to the storage unit. She replayed his words, _“Pretty sure everything left can just go, don’t waste your time sorting through any of the boxes.”_

“Okay, just these last two boxes and then I’ll be done, well other than removing this layer of filth and painting.”  She returned her focus to the two large boxes in the back corner of the space.

“These look heavy. I better check what's inside,” as she used a box cutter to remove the packing tape from the top of the first box.

She opened the flaps to uncover a bundle of fluffy silver and blue Chanukkah garland. Delicately intertwined with the strands of dreidels and menorahs was a second garland of red and gold Christmas trees and ornaments. Felicity carefully lifted the garlands from the box and placed them on the dusty floor to reveal yet another layer of decorations.

She laughed as she remembered her Mother’s scream at the discovery of a small velvet box amongst the holiday decorations prior to that fateful Holiday party.

 _“I won’t expect to find that again,”_ she thought. _“Best to follow instructions,”_ as she placed the garland back in the box and resealed it with packing tape and added to the growing pile of boxes near the door.

 _“Last one,”_  she thought as turned to pick up the last box. This was much heavier than the last one. She shifted the box in her arms in a vain attempt to get a better grip. One moment she was holding the box and then next the bottom of the box gave way and released a shower of leather bound books onto the floor. Felicity startled and jumped back to avoid the books as they fell.

"Whoa," she coughed, choking in the cloud of dust that circulated around the disheveled pile of books around her feet. 

“Well it looks like I should have opened that one first.”

She retrieved a fresh packing box and taped it together. The box that broke was still salvageable, so she reinforced the bottom with more tape and sat down on the floor to repack the books. 

“What are these?” she said as she picked one of the plain books from the pile on the floor, turning it over in her hand. She looked down at the pile and realized one of the volumes was lying open. The book's pages held lines of hand-written words. She picked it up for closer inspection.  

The words jumped off the page as she read, _“My third year on Lian Yu was the worst of the three. Meeting Constantine was a bright spot in between all the drugs, death, and demonic possession. Should have known for myself that the island was a nexus that would draw really bad people to it without Constantine needing to tell me...”_

She shut the book with a clap and dropped back on the pile, “These are Oliver’s journals, why did he store them here? Okay, I’ll just pack them back up and forget I found them.” 

Felicity went to work and quickly returned all of the journals into boxes. She was sealing the second one with tape as Oliver and Digg entered the office.   

“Hey,” Oliver called.

Felicity jumped, “Hey, you guys are early aren’t you? You’re never early Oliver.” 

Oliver and Digg shared a look, “I didn't think we were early, are these all the boxes that need to be moved?”

“Yes, that’s all of them. Let’s get them off to the storage unit, right away,” she chimed in. _“Where they will be locked up and I won’t be tempted to open any of them again for a long time…”_ she added to herself.

“Oh, about the storage unit, I thought since we're moving all of all your office items here that will free up space in the spare bedroom. We'll save the money for the storage space.”

“No,” exclaimed Felicity.

“No?" Oliver questioned, "Why not?” Oliver moved to Felicity’s side and put his hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Oliver’s presence was calming. Felicity took a deep breath, “sorry, I’m fine. I just didn’t want to clutter up the spare room, I know you want William to feel more at home when he visits.”

“It'll be fine. Digg, let’s get these boxes loaded.”  

<============>  

Oliver and Digg carried all of the boxes into the loft's extra bedroom and stowed them in the closet.

“Thanks for your help Digg, give J.J. a kiss for me," said Felicity.

"Glad to help, I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” said Digg as he walked to the door.

Felicity shut the door and turned back into the room to see Oliver standing with his arms crossed, “Are you going to tell me what’s going on with you now that Digg is gone?”

 _“How can he know what I found?”_ she thought.

“About what,” said Felicity, in an attempt to sound completely calm despite the lump developing in her throat. She darted into the kitchen and opened the fridge. "I'll just get us something to drink, you must be thirsty after moving all those boxes."

Oliver followed her into the kitchen and stood behind the open fridge door.

Felicity closed the fridge with two bottles of water in hand only to fine Oliver standing right in front of her.

“Eep. Oliver, don’t sneak up on me.”

“Fel-i-ci-ty.  Stop avoiding the question. I know something is up.”

“Can we go sit down, please Oliver,” he moved aside and she headed over to sit on the couch.

“Please tell me,”

“I found something, that I wasn’t supposed to find. Please believe me that is was COMPLETELY unintentional on my part. The box broke and there was a huge cloud of dust, and one of the journals fell open, I didn’t mean to read it Oliver, please forgive me.”

“Hey, hey, calm down.” he said with a smile.

“I only read one page before I packed them all back in the boxes," she continued, reaching out to grab his hand. She looked up at Oliver for a sign.

“Felicity, I don’t care that you read it. I had forgotten I left them there.”

“Really, are you sure? I feel like I invaded your privacy. And to be honest, I wasn’t sure how I was going to handle having those boxes in the spare room.”

“You can read them all if you’d like, ask questions, whatever. But remember, to quote your own words, it was a whole lotta suck.”

Felicity was so relieved that she surged forward to kiss him.

“What was that for?” asked Oliver.

“Thank you for trusting me. For trusting me to read your journals. Maybe we could read them together. I just have one other question.”

Oliver smiled and cupped her face, “You wouldn’t be you if there wasn’t another question.”

“I remember that you said that Constantine owed you a favor, what was it?”

“I'll tell you all about it. Once upon a time, a man in a green hood was roaming Coast City hunting drug dealers.”

“What were you doing in Coast City?”

“Fel-i-city,” moaned Oliver.

She laughed and made a zipping motion across her lips. Felicity snuggled into his embrace. She could hold her all her questions for another time.  

**Author's Note:**

> I know they don't have time in the show, but I would love to see Oliver tell Felicity more about his five years away from Star City. Thanks again for reading - I would love to hear what you think and any suggestions.
> 
> On another note I'm very excited to join Camp NaNoWriMo for the month of July. Special thanks to my oldest child who is a prolific writer for suggesting I give it a try. I'm hoping to write for all the weekly prompts, write some extra blogs for a website project and try and take a stab at a multi-chapter Olicity fic. Wish me luck.


End file.
